Feb
13

Beyond #SourceCon – The Trip from Euphoria Back to Real Life

Musicians would call it dynamics. The conference orchestrated by ERE Media last week for the sourcing community was punctuated by accented notes, a few well placed rests, and heightened emotional crescendos followed by equally moving decrescendos. Dynamics! After any concert, when the musicians stop playing, those who were immersed in the moment will carry that experience away and relive it for a while afterward. Without the external accompaniment to sustain the emotion, life’s volume and tempo can begin to drown out even the memory of the experience.

How many people moved by speakers and key networking moments last week will return to real life on Monday only to find that the lessons they learned don’t fit nicely into their usual routine. The culture of most organizations is not very receptive to revolution from the ranks and a longer evolutionary tactic involving buy-in and eventual funding is required to make real change happen.

Organizational immovability requires missionaries to effect change.

In some cases, the inertia of the ongoing process cannot be stopped or even slowed down. This is a world where sourcing is often an underestimated and undervalued commodity. Words alone will not change the direction, but repeating the message at every opportunity has an eventual impact. This will not just be a series of five-second sound bites that eventually causes change to happen. The lessons learned at SourceCon need to be adapted to the current environment, fine tuned and refined. Most of us will not be dealing globally with multiple cultures, but the eloquence of Adam Lawrence will not be lost if that message is absorbed and repeated in context. Don’t expect lightbulb moments, gasps of recognition and spontaneous applause when you suggest that phone sourcing actually works because nobody does it like Conni LaDouceur and many are still lost in a post and pray recruiting mentality. Only the true believers and those who hone their skills to approach the level of the SourceCon presenters will cut through the fog of an immovable culture.

Even receptive cultures require catalysts to implement change.

The role of the few, moved by their passion, can turn thoughts and processes in a new direction. Some SourceCon attendees were sent by their employers to bring back the latest technology in order to give them a competitive edge. Influence by those few can ignite the flame of change to make new things happen. Working within established ATS or CRM boundaries can be deflating if pushing the boundaries of current practices is not expanded. Best practices gleaned from the Panel Discussion and other presentations are examples of how to move forward and not accept the status quo.  It was interesting to work the room and eavesdrop on coffee-talk and casual conversations at the conference which focused on learned best practices and a willingness to share, somewhat boastfully, about successes. It also highlights that interaction and participation is just as important as listening to the key speakers. The video presentations are better than nothing, but nowhere close to the feeling of participation that comes only from the live conference. Returning home with the message that “I talked to somebody at XYZ Company who did it this way” is just as important as notes from the experts.

Personal education and edification is always a permanent change.

The change that happens within an individual can be challenged by the environment, but lasting personal improvement can never be stripped away. The tips, tricks and tactics presented by Shannon Myers, Shannon Van Curen and Eric Jaquith will set an individual sourcer above the rest and improve company results through individual professional excellence. Sourcing excellence that is exemplary in its basic form will be recognized and institutionalized. Even if there is no immediate pat-on-the-back for the personal improvement gained, there will be the self-satisfying knowledge that there is value added by personal efforts. Everybody’s parents probably told them that “nobody can take away your education,” meaning formal education, but the lessons we learn as adults that are of our choosing and in our profession are priceless.

It is interesting that with all the emphasis on how to source the best talent in the most efficient manner, most of the conversation seemed to be mechanical in tone. This is not a criticism of the largest, best run and most exciting SourceCon of all time, but a systemic problem with recruiting in general that focuses on the process rather than the people. The term “candidate experience” was only mentioned once from the platform and perhaps the next SourceCon should sponsor a general session on the value of looking at the process from the other side of the table. We are not lumberjacks harvesting trees, or this would have been called LumberCon. A view of the process from the perspective of the hunted rather than the hunter would serve to remind us that we are impacting real lives of real people in our profession.

 

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Jan
24

You Have the Right to Remain Silent

Comedian Ron White came up with a classic line in his routine about a time he was picked up by the police for being drunk in public, “I had the right to remain silent…but I didn’t have the ability.” Genius! In the comedic pause between the first and second part of that sentence, people started to think about what he was going to say next. When the anticipation was over they roared with laughter even though many saw what was coming. If you think about it, we all have the right to remain silent or speak out whenever we want. Like Ron White, do we lose the ability in certain circumstances to distinguish between the two?

We hear a lot in the recruiting world about the “candidate experience” and the evil “black hole” that is a killer of employer-to-candidate communication. Without repeating a previous declaration that “all candidates don’t deserve a good experience” and have to explain that one again, let’s just say that honest communication is necessary in the hiring process and is not negotiable as a mandatory skill of a recruiter. Human interaction is at the heart of the issue.

You have the right to remain silent…but what do you do when the hiring process takes longer than you expected?

The complexity of a company’s hiring process is not transparent to someone looking for a job or a new step in their career. No news is not good news. The lack of timely turnaround, even if justified, creates unnecessary anxiety. Nothing is really wrong with this scenario except for unmatched expectations. Remember Gibbs Rule #6: Never apologize – it’s a sign of weakness. More importantly, why say “I’m sorry” if you did nothing wrong? The more you educate candidates about the process the more confidence you instill in them. Prerequisite to having an open dialog is keeping the lines of communication open. Try to give them a reasonable time frame in order to set realistic expectations. Sharing the process with them also gives insight into the culture of the company they hope to join. Honesty doesn’t mean you go negative on your own company. Remain positive and never air dirty linen in public if something did go wrong or somebody is holding things up. Honesty has two very important side effects. First, it helps to keep your focus on track and if somebody in the organization is dragging their feet then light a fire under them. Probably most important is the fact that lies are always very thinly veiled. Never be in a situation where you have to keep track of which lie you told so that you are consistent. Give them a reason, not feeble excuses.

You have the right to remain silent…but what do you say when a candidate is not the first choice?

In every arena where human beings compete, somebody is the winner and the rest are not. If there are numerous positions open there may be more than one offer. If not, the first-runner-up may be someone you would have hired if Number One hadn’t been in the running. Don’t lose an opportunity to cultivate a future hire by closing too early. Keep a list of those in the running for the next opening of that type and the time-to-hire can be dramatically reduced. The open dialog means keeping a tickler file on your candidate network and reaching out to them from time to time to keep the channels open. It also means extending an invitation to stay in touch and answering the phone when they call. Every contact gives more credibility to your hiring process. As an important side note, do not overlook the requirements to maintain balance and impartiality in your selection of candidates. Maintaining lists outside of a company ATS can open the door for charges of discrimination, so any offline private or public databases are still subject to the same restrictions and controls without the built-in safeguards of an ATS. The ultimate goal is not to replace the normal processes, but to give recruiters, managers and candidates the ability to manage data already vetted through the system.  Instill in everyone the idea that the opposite of winning is not losing because in some cases there are other opportunities to win.

You have the right to remain silent…but what do you say when a candidate doesn’t get the job after an interview?

The hardest job for anyone to do is to communicate bad news. Candidates will come through the door that appeared to meet the job specs on paper, but when called upon to offer depth of substance in an interview reveal that they are something less than the ideal employee. If they don’t fall into the first-runner-up category there is still value in their background, perhaps for other jobs, as long as their story line is not totally a sales pitch of a candidate “brand without substance.” The approach, while time-consuming, would be to identify any redeeming value to the company since this individual has already gone through the screening process in order to get to the interview stage. It helps to think of it as a golden rule of candidate communication: Tell them what you would want to hear in that situation.   Many recruiters will string along a candidate who failed the job interview, but that really doesn’t do anyone any good. At some point the process has to come to closure and the preferred way is with mutual understanding that it didn’t work out rather than hoping they go away quietly. There is no good way to tell someone that they are not going to be considered for a job without some sort of feedback. Sometimes there is a cultural mismatch as well as a skill differential, but more often than not it is just a simple fact of relativity. When compared to other candidates on measurable dimensions they fell short of the mark. If you are interviewing without an evaluation yardstick, the message given will be personal, incomplete and hostile sounding.

You have the right to remain silent…but what do you say to the candidate who needs a lot of help to get any job?

Be careful to separate personal coaching from the recruiter’s chair and giving official feedback. There are a myriad of legal concerns that could expose the recruiter and the company to claims of discrimination. No good deed goes unpunished! This should not be used as an excuse to ignore candidate communication. You know that they are never going to be hired at your company, so official feedback has to be targeted to their skills relative to the job and their outlook as it meshes with the company culture. More often than not, they already know that they are not a match. Communication also involves listening, so when the questions comes up about “What could I do better?” you can casually ask “What do you think you could do better?” Then listen. You will hear stereotypical feedback that you can address and perhaps offer non-binding advice. At this point, anything the recruiter offers that is intended to be helpful could be perceived as humiliating if it is a monologue instead of a dialog. Two-way communication is made easier if there has been a good recruiter/recruitee relationship built up over time.

The message to recruiters should be a reminder that you work with PEOPLE and if you don’t like working with PEOPLE then find another job. Learn to talk to PEOPLE or you are admitting that you add no value to the process and anybody can do it.

 

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Jan
20

Job Search Must Include Invention, Innovation and Improvisation

Dangling Bananas

As seen on TV, a useful gadget to ripen bananas and keep them from bruising by contact with any other objects works by suspending the bunch in the air. If you believe the hype, setting a bunch of bananas on a flat surface or in a fruit bowl is the worst thing you could do. This sky-hook device supposedly provides a more natural position, although if you look up articles on banana growing you will find that this actually hangs them upside down. This can’t make your bananas happy. Of course, a piece of string and a nail would do the same thing, but how attractive would that be in your kitchen? As the bunch is consumed, the fatal design flaw is uncovered: there is a minimum of two bananas required for the device to work. The simplest solutions are either to eat both bananas or leave them both on the hook until they are dried black husks and then throw them away. Improvisation enters the scenario when you break the rules and apply a field fix for your last banana…hey, stabbing it on the hook is one choice. It works!

Pierced Banana

How many people looking for a job in a tight economy follow the rules so rigidly that they are plowing their rut deeper and deeper with every passing moment? Everyone has heard the saying that “rules were made to be broken,” but the consequences must be weighed along with the advantages in a micro-level personal risk assessment study. The innovative person will find the way around obstacles, yes even rules, with positive results and a minimum of trouble. The survivors of the trials of a job search will be victorious. The winners are usually the inventive job seekers who mold their actions to fit the numerous conflicting processes they encounter. The blind follower of rules isn’t necessarily a fool or even the meek personality type regarding most things, but the fear of failure to follow rules can be daunting. Obstacles in the path to success are overcome by applying workarounds.

Obstacle: Applying through company websites to get a job will suck you into a black hole. Maybe, but most large companies use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to tie their internal job requisitions to prospective employees. Even an ATS that is broken or poorly managed needs data to function, so just do it! Realize that not applying through this channel means that you are asking the same recruiter that you hope will be your advocate in the company to do your data entry work for you. The black hole workaround is to go through more than one door to get in the company. If there is 9% unemployment that means that there is 91% employment and those are pretty good odds. If you know anybody who is working you can be somebody’s employee referral.

Obstacle: Job boards are ineffective in getting you a job because millions of people are doing the same thing. If you believe that myth, you must also deal with the reality that there may be hundreds of people applying for your dream job. The first workaround is to be at the top of the pile. Only apply for jobs that are a close match to your skills and experience. You may receive advice to the contrary, but the shotgun approach fails in the majority of cases because the odds are really like playing the lottery. So just do it. Apply and then look around the job board’s web site for other things. Many offer help on resume writing, cover letters, interviewing…all for free. Read their advice and compare with your own search plans and dovetail them together. Even if you don’t get your job through the job board the experience and education received by being there is extremely valuable.

Obstacle: Twitter is limiting in its ability to be effective because there is limited substance. This can be true if you are a total Twitter-nonbeliever and haven’t immersed yourself into the pool of millions of people who go there. Recruiters use Twitter, so find them, follow them and engage in conversation with them. Forget the stupid “follow me back if I follow you” rules because it isn’t about the number of followers you have but the number of quality tweeters you follow and the information they provide. It is all about active engagement. Hashtags like #jobsearch, #jobs, #careers, #jobseekers, #WorkWednesday and #HireFriday are like built-in search tools to introduce you to new ideas and people. Chat sessions with fellow job seekers and those who offer free advice can be found using #HFChat, #JobHuntChat, #GenYChat, #CareerChat, #InternPro and others. Your job search is like a scary movie with ghosts all around you and you will never see them without your Twitter goggles on.

Obstacle: Facebook is for my family, friends and private communications and not a job search tool. That mentality is prevalent with most people, but only because they choose to keep it that way. Perhaps they are too lazy to apply the workaround to this obstacle by learning how to group users into personal and professional and then tailoring the messages sent to each. Even if you choose to keep it personal, there is a wealth of information on companies there. Recruiters use Facebook so why wouldn’t you want to engage them there? If you have targeted a company in your search, then LIKE their Facebook page. You may find job postings there also, but more importantly you will be getting a glimpse into the culture of the company. If you have not found a target company yet, find one on Facebook and pursue them. Like most social media outlets, you will only get out of it what you put into it.

Obstacle: LinkedIn is not a real social media site and is primarily for business. Breaking down this myth only requires defining two words: social and media. It is as social as you make it and it is most definitely the medium to reach millions. While you are expanding your knowledge about your craft, it is like inventing your personal job board in reverse. With a little innovative thinking you can research companies and establish your brand through your profile, answers and dialog. Recruiters are all over LinkedIn. Engage with them or even directly with hiring managers who would love to go deeper into your skills at solving their problems. If you see a contact change employers, look at where he came from. Is there an opening there now? Is that a culture you want to avoid like the plague? You can wonder or you can ask. The key to a job search usually boils down to networking and LinkedIn is a perfect place to begin a dialog online that can lead through a cup of coffee somewhere to an interview.

Are you a “two-banana” minimum job seeker or are you willing to do what it takes to succeed even if it may be a little unconventional? Sometimes the speed bumps on the road to a successful conclusion of the job search only require slowing down or driving around them. Flying over them is also an option if you are innovative.

 

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Jan
18

The SOPA-Like Mentality

I feel like I am crossing some sort of cyber picket line by even thinking about posting something about the SOPA protest happening with major players in the online community today. It is uncommon for me to directly comment on political matters because I am basically an advocate of freedom and usually scoff at the polarizing rhetoric of the right and the left. I don’t blog about politics, religion or morality even though I have definite opinions on everything. What I don’t do best is to allow closed minded people block my attempts at being open minded.

SOPA is basically a stupid idea.

That’s my opinion. Make me change my mind if you can. Any believer in freedom has to wince a bit whenever there is a risk of being pushed down the slippery slope of Orwellian big-brotherism.

The US Congress is clueless about most technical issues.

We elect smart people to represent us in the Senate and House of Representatives and they apparently check in for a lobotomy before taking their seat. Why in this time of waning approval ratings would any political body go on such an offensive? Who in their right mind would not have seen the firestorm of controversy that would be generated by SOPA? Oh yes, the same people who can’t figure out how jobs are created at the same time they are squeezing business with overregulation. Here’s a clue Congress: Business creates jobs…you don’t. And for the internet? Go talk to Al Gore. After all, he invented it.

There is new evidence of the power of the online community.

Only a few days after we commemorated the legacy of Martin Luther King’s peaceful protests that changed our society, we are seeing the power of a community of social media and the internet to influence policy. Several of the sponsors of SOPA are already backing down on the details of the original plan and there is evidence that it may go further. Something may pass and be signed into law through compromise and political deal making, but how is it going to be enforced and who will do it? Another government agency? What is wrong here is that we are living on our credit cards and have no intention of paying the bill.

Maybe neither side is right!

There is a fine line between anarchy and civility. Can’t we all just get along? How far is too far and who decides? I ask if any part of the behemoth voices online protesting SOPA are looking at their bottom line instead of what is best for all of us. Giving credit to lawmakers who really want to do the right thing, how much of the proposed legislation is use of political power to push a personal agenda. Some people may be ignoring a problem while others may be running around with solutions looking for a matching problem.

I may be over the top on my comments. I do have a problem with keeping sarcasm out of my writing when I am trying to make a point. The bottom line is that I value my freedom. At the same time I must respect the freedom of others. I have the freedom to swing my fists wildly unless they make contact with someone else’s freedom. This story is not finished.

 

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Jan
16

Tea Leaves and Technology

The centuries-old art of tasseography, or reading of tea leaves, is at risk of extinction. The mysteries of having someone with a psychic gift discover meaning in the remnants of a cup of tea has already been eroded by our instantly accessible media. A quick online search not only reveals the tea leaf patterns for anyone to interpret, but also gives instruction on how to prepare the cup of tea for a reading. A part of this practice now requires additional steps to expose the tea leaves in the first place. In our constant drive to “improve” our lives and automate almost every process, we first captured all of the tea in little tasteless bags to keep bits of our future from remaining in the cup. The latest innovation has been to hide the tea in individual servings hermetically sealed in a K-cup. In a leap of faith, we believe that this container is labeled correctly and actually contains something resembling old-fashioned tea. Who cares if the ability to tell the future is not available to us anymore? We have instant gratification…a perfectly brewed cup of tea in seconds…and we rarely have time to think about the future anyway.

Technology has done a lot to improve our lives. While members of the Boomer Generation sometimes struggle to keep up, my 1-year old granddaughter, the beginning of Gen(Whatever), has already successfully unlocked her father’s Android phone on more than one occasion. We seem to be caught between the opinion that “there ain’t nothing like the good old days” and a drive for “I can do anything and I want more, now, faster.” If we listen without analyzing, we are lured into choosing one of the polarized opinions about these outlooks. Upon closer attention, the casual observation that these are opposing viewpoints can be offset by selecting the appropriate lens to look closer at technology. In reality, either side of the issue, both sides or somewhere in between could be true.

Adopting technology for technology sake is not progress

Infatuation with technology is contagious and it is easy to believe that the tech solution is always the best solution. Without measurable results that sustain some sort of improved economy, efficiency or results, the reality is that nothing has actually changed. In fact the application of technology may actually be more costly and result in overcomplicating an otherwise simple process. How many “as advertised on TV” kitchen gadgets end up in a box in the attic because they are more trouble than they are worth? Similarly, in business there are predictable recurring software upgrades with the only visible benefit apparently being a later version number. This is not progress. If such an improvement makes data incompatible with other systems or consumes more than it gives then it may not be a wise choice. A life cycle analysis of any new system is necessary before investing resources that will require adoption of a new process or procedure. It is important to question whether or not the return on investment of money, time and energy is really worth it.

Innovation does not require technology

Too much emphasis is placed on technology when the interaction between people is sometimes the key. A good example is company performance appraisal software. Used as a tool it can be very helpful in standardizing, expediting and collecting data. If it becomes a substitute for management involvement with their employees then nobody benefits. Employee interaction and feedback is not an annual or semi-annual milestone or a pay raise exercise generated by computers. Communication between managers and those whom they manage is a continuous process and involves ongoing feedback and rewards. Giving managers the tools to do this also involves understanding the importance of maintaining this relationship. Education and training is the answer…not a surrogate computer application. An organization with a culture that abandons the recognition of the value of an individual will become lifeless and robotic.

Replacing real thinking with technology is not the best choice

Modern job boards create the fantasy that looking for a job can be done from a chair. While they are a useful part of the process and have done wonders in making the search for new jobs more efficient, they are only one chess piece in the job search game. Only moving the pawns will never win the game. Thinking diagonally is more difficult but also gives more chances for success. Incorporating online technologies as only one tool in the total plan of action is more realistic. Another tool is the strategy of being somebody’s employee referral into a new opportunity and this takes personal involvement. Also, the use of social media enhances networking with others, but none of the faceless online methodologies will be a substitute for face-to-face meetings. A cup of coffee and actual verbal dialog beats out tweets and IMs. A firm handshake trumps an email.

Using advances in technology to replace human interaction is laziness

Recruiters, being human beings with busy schedules and conflicting priorities have found that applicant tracking systems can replace the hard part of the job, communicating with applicants. For some strange reason, management doesn’t see the problem with this and actually encourages non-recruiting activities that compete with real candidate interaction. There seems to be the idea that automation allows us to do more with less when the actual result is reducing people to mere numbers. It is a great thing that we have the ability to measure and analyze data more accurately and use it for improving the process. It is a colossal failure when the process becomes bland and impersonal. That almost-silent sucking sound that is just barely heard is the black hole absorbing the life out of the process. A positive candidate experience is important in order to expand the network of viable candidates and sustain company growth. Recruiters beware! The next step in the evolution of a purely systematic hands-off approach would be to replace robotic recruiters with actual robots if there is no value added by your presence.

Hopefully, this is an objective analysis and not generationally biased. Older generations that reject the advance of technology are missing out on the advantages they offer. Newer generations who reject history are probably racing past the lessons already learned and will relearn things the hard way. Regardless of our personal situation, everyone should applaud technology, embrace it and use it to improve our personal lives, our work and our intellectual capacity. We must find that comfortable balance between the extremes because if we depend on technology for everything we take away from the experience of living. If we use it to enhance our lives, we will be richer for the experience. Now have another cup of tea…prepared any way that gives you pleasure.

 

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